


When the birds stop singing.

by okeydokey (LilMissNerdfighter)



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Annoyingly intelligent bandits, Can equally just be Merlin and Arthur being friends, Can have implied Merthur if you want, Gen, Magic Revealed, Whatever floats your boat or ship or whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-09
Updated: 2013-02-09
Packaged: 2017-11-28 18:52:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/677717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilMissNerdfighter/pseuds/okeydokey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur drags Merlin on an impromptu hunting trip. Of course, not everything goes as smoothly as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the birds stop singing.

When Merlin had awoken that morning, he had not expected today to be anything other than normal. Arthur had knights to train and yet another meeting with his father in the afternoon, meaning that Merlin should, in theory, have been helping Gaius out. As it was, he was sitting cross-legged opposite the prince in the wood, all thoughts of Gaius long gone. Both fear- not for himself, but for the man on his knees in front of him- and a sort of nervous hope coursed through his veins, mingling with his magic. Which really was the problem, wasn’t it? He had never been able to properly separate Arthur from his magic, and now they had collided.

‘What am I going to do with you?’ Arthur sighed, throwing his arms into the air. The birds stopped singing and Merlin shook his head, bracing himself, waiting for the words that would tear his world to shreds. Arthur took a deep breath and began to speak.

**

‘Hurry up, Merlin!’ called Arthur, watching as his incompetent manservant tried to follow him, nearly falling off his horse. They were going on a quick hunting trip. Arthur had cancelled his appointments with the knights and fobbed his father off with some barely believable excuse. He had needed to get out of the castle walls, and this was the best way to do it.

‘I’m coming!’ Merlin yelled in reply, adding something more quietly which sounded suspiciously like, ‘Your royal clotpole-ness’. He had nearly caught up, when Arthur suddenly halted. ‘Arthur- what are you doing?’

‘Shut up!’ Arthur hissed, glaring at him. He waved a hand towards the top of the valley, seeing understanding dawn in Merlin’s eyes.

‘Bandits.’ He breathed. Arthur watched Merlin tense, as if preparing for a fight, with a bemused smirk. He shouldn’t have found it amusing, really, Bandits weren’t something to be laughed at, but the idea of Merlin preparing for a fight was ridiculous. Merlin’s attitude to fighting seemed to be to lie on the ground and wait for it all to be over.

‘Right. What now?’ Merlin asked, fists clenched, eyes scanning the valley for escape routes. As per usual, there were none- Arthur had already checked. He could see the bandits attempting to be inconspicuous above them, and opted to ignore them. Instead, he jumped down from his horse and turned to face Merlin, wondering how his manservant was planning on helping. Did he even know how to handle a sword? If he wasn’t so fond of the idiot, he would’ve fired him long ago in favour of a servant who could defend him, and who would obey his orders and not insult him with every other breath. As it was, he would’ve considered Merlin his best friend, if he wasn’t a prince. But he was, so the entire thing was invalid, really.

‘Merlin, do you remember what I taught the knights last Thursday?’

‘No! I was helping Gaius, I wasn’t even there!’ Merlin looked vaguely panicked, and yet he still hadn’t made any attempt to grab any form of weapon.

‘Why in the name of sanity were you doing that?’

‘That is my job.’ Merlin insisted, mock scowling at Arthur.

‘ _This_ is your job!’ Arthur protested. He had completely forgotten about the bandits. Apparently, they hadn’t forgotten about him though. He was abruptly reminded of their presence when he saw a shadow cast over his head. Fuck, he thought as the shadow moved. There was no way he was going to be able to block anything they aimed at him. He wondered how long it would take before he could reach his sword. Would he have time before he was knocked unconscious? How many of them were there? Could Merlin take them out? Stupid question, Merlin was pretty much useless.

A moment later there was a blade at his throat, and Merlin was yelling. At least he was putting up a fight; Arthur supposed he might have slightly underestimated him. But almost as soon as the fight had begun, it ended. Merlin was on the floor within a matter of seconds, with Bandits standing around him. Well, that was quick, Arthur scowled. Brilliant. So much for an uneventful hunting trip! 

‘Arthur!’

‘Ah, so that’s your name, is it? I bet that makes you _Prince_ Arthur. Not many knights from Camelot called Arthur. I wonder what sort of price we’d get for your head…’ the man with the knife mused. Arthur sighed, here we go again.  Merlin was running towards him, somehow breaking away from the men.

‘Arthur!’

‘You stay right there. Move another inch and the Prince gets it.’ The Bandit growled. Merlin raised his eyebrows as if to say, ‘And I care because?’, still continuing forwards.

The Bandit let out a small sigh, his breath warm on the back of Arthur’s neck. ‘You really should choose more obedient servants.’

Don’t I know it, Arthur agreed, bracing himself for a blow that never came. Instead, there was a flash of gold and the Bandit’s knife flew away from Arthur’s neck.

‘Get. Away. From. Him.’ roared Merlin. The Bandits, who had been chasing after him halted, before turning on their heels and fleeing. What had they seen that he hadn’t?

‘And why should I do that?’ sneered the Bandit.

‘You see, in case it has slipped your attention, you haven’t got any henchman anymore.’ Merlin gestured to the retreating men, who were eying Merlin apprehensively. What, was it in their job description to be scared of defenceless, skinny men, with abnormally large ears?

‘So?’ asked the man. Merlin was still approaching, his stride not faltering as the Bandit pulled a second knife from his belt and pressed it against Arthur’s neck again. Really, it was getting old now, Arthur thought, almost surprised how calm he was feeling about the entire thing. How was it that he trusted Merlin to get him out of this situation relatively unscathed?

‘Which means you’re all alone. And really, I can take down one man with my hands tied behind my back. Upside down. With no weapons.’ Merlin smirked. What was he talking about? How was that even possible? There was something different about him, and as he grew closer, Arthur could see that he was standing a little taller than usual, fire in his eyes. Whatever hidden meaning Arthur had missed from his manservant’s words, seemed to please the lone Bandit.

‘Oh, but you wouldn’t.’

‘Do you really want to test that theory?’

‘What would your little prince think if he knew your secret? Would he still want you around?’

‘Yes.’ Merlin insisted, but his voice wavered a little. He had stopped walking now, even though he was less than two metres from Arthur. He could’ve reached out and grabbed him, but he didn’t.

‘Are you sure? Would he still trust you?’

‘I’m giving you one last warning.’

‘Poor little sorcerer, all alone in the world. I bet your family didn’t even want you.’ The Bandit taunted. Merlin flinched slightly, avoiding eye contact with Arthur.

‘Merlin- what does he mean, sorcerer?’ Arthur asked. Sorcerer? What? Merlin couldn’t be, wasn’t a sorcerer. He wasn’t, was he?

‘Oh, didn’t you know his dirty little secret?’ laughed the Bandit. ‘Guess your manservant doesn’t tell you everything, your highness. Isn’t sorcery illegal, _Merlin_? What’s going to happen to you now that your beloved Arthur knows?’

‘Shut up!’ Merlin screamed, and in a second burst of golden light, the Bandit flew backwards, hitting a tree and falling, unconscious, at the foot of a tree. Arthur fell to his knees, gasping for breath. And despite everything, Merlin rushed forward to help Arthur. His hands were brushing mud from his face and holding cloth to the cut by the base of his throat. Even after everything, he was still more concerned about Arthur, than about himself. Arthur’s heart swelled a little. God, how was he supposed to be angry at the traitor, when he was Merlin? ‘Are you alright, sire?’

‘Yes. Yes. You have got some explaining to do, haven’t you _Mer_ lin? You’d better have a good excuse for all of this!’

‘Well I-‘

‘Start at the beginning.’

‘Of course, sire.’

So, they sat under the trees, as Merlin started from the beginning, recounting everything he could about his magic.

**

When Merlin had awoken that morning, he had not expected today to be anything other than normal. Arthur had knights to train and yet another meeting with his father in the afternoon, meaning that Merlin should, in theory, have been helping Gaius out. As it was, he was sitting cross-legged opposite the prince in the wood, all thoughts of Gaius long gone. Both fear- not for himself, but for the man on his knees in front of him- and a sort of nervous hope coursed through his veins, mingling with his magic. Which really was the problem, wasn’t it? He had never been able to properly separate Arthur from his magic, and now they had collided.

‘What am I going to do with you?’ Arthur sighed, throwing his arms into the air. The birds stopped singing and Merlin shook his head, bracing himself, waiting for the words that would tear his world to shreds. Arthur took a deep breath and began to speak. ‘You should know, first of all, that I am extraordinarily cross with you. You have betrayed my trust and thrown everything I know about you into question. I should, the second we get back to Camelot, have you put on trial for sorcery. Because what else am I supposed to do?’

Merlin dropped his gaze to his hands. So, this was it. He was going to die, all because of an impromptu hunting trip and a bunch of annoyingly intelligent bandits. And he had hoped for a moment that Arthur would be different. He wasn’t though, was he?’

‘But I can’t, can I?’ Arthur continued, his eyes meeting Merlin’s.

‘Sire?’

‘I can’t, because, as horrible as this is, you are my best friend and I don’t know what I’d do without you. I think I’m the mostly just furious about the fact that you have been saving my life for fuck knows how long, and letting me believe it’s the other way round. That or that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me!’

‘I wanted to, Arthur. Please believe me-‘ Arthur raised a hand to interrupt him.

‘That’s the worst bit. I do believe you. Because you are Merlin, my stupid manservant, and I don’t know how to stop believing you.’

Merlin relaxed a little, looking into Arthur’s blue eyes, allowing himself a hopeful smile.

‘Am I forgiven then?’

‘Yes. I mean no. I mean- bloody hell. I don’t know, okay?’

‘Please?’

‘Oh for fucks sake. You are forgiven, as long as you promise to learn a spell that’ll keep my bath water warm for longer.’

‘Is that it? I thought it was going to be something worse! If that is the worst you’ve got, I should’ve told you months ago!’

‘Don’t think you’re getting off that easily! Now I know about your magic, you have no excuse for being so incompetent!’

‘You know you love me really!’ Merlin laughed.

‘Clot Pole.’

‘Dollop Head.’


End file.
